Miracle
by cutflowers
Summary: You just have to have faith. Christmas oneshot. L/M.


**Don't even talk to me about **_**Astray**_**. It will be updated soon. I meant to have this up yesterday, but then various Christmas things happened. You know how it goes.**

**Anyway! Merry Christmas! Happy (Belated) Hanukkah! Happy (Early) Kwanzaa! And happy anything else anyone happens to be celebrating! (Winter? I'd celebrate winter. You know. If it was actually COLD.)**

**This story owes a debt to Connie Willis's one by the same name. (****That basically means I ripped her off.)**** Mine's gayer though.**

**Disclaimer: Whatever, I'm tired of doing these.**

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**Miracle**

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It was the last day before classes let out for Christmas break, and the noise level in first period Biology reflected that. It didn't help that Ms. Kunkle had yet to make an appearance even though the bell had rung almost five minutes ago.

Miley rolled her eyes and leaned further over Lilly's desk, trying to hear what her friend was saying over the clamor their classmates were making. "What?"

"I _said_, do you want to sleep over tonight so we can celebrate the end of the term?" Lilly asked, raising her voice. "And, um..." She licked her lips. "There's kind of something I want to talk to you about."

"Def – " Miley said loudly, then cut herself off when she realized silence had fallen and she was suddenly the only one talking. A quick glance at the door told her why: Mr. Weebie, the principal, was surveying the class and Miley in particular with a stern eye.

"Good morning, students," he said just as sternly, striding towards the teacher's desk. Miley twisted back around in her seat to face the front of the classroom, not wanting to call any more attention to herself. Another man followed Mr. Weebie and stood next to him in front of the blackboard. He looked young, like he was just out of college, had short, medium brown hair and directed a friendly if somewhat blank smile out at the students. And he was _hot_, Miley thought, barely keeping herself from turning back around to share that observation with Lilly.

"All right, class," Mr. Weebie said. "I regret to inform you that Ms. Kunkle was in a car accident this morning on her way to work."

"Oh my gosh, is she okay?" Sarah asked from three rows over.

"Yes, she's fine," Mr. Weebie told them. "However, she did fracture her ankle and she'll be out until after Christmas." He paused while the noise level in the classroom momentarily spiked again at that news. Good news or bad news, Miley wondered. That was all going to depend on who was teaching the class in Ms. Kunkle's absence. Miley looked to her left at Oliver and could see he was thinking the same thing.

"Luckily, we were fortunate enough to find Mr. Santos to fill in," Mr. Weebie continued, gesturing to the man next to him. "I'm sure you'll all behave perfectly for him, especially since he was kind enough to come in on such short notice and so close to the holidays." The class remained quiet. "And otherwise I would be taking over the class," Mr. Weebie finished, and there was a hasty murmur of agreement from everyone that they were grateful to Mr. Santos for giving up his time.

"I thought as much," Mr. Weebie said dryly. He flipped open the planner on Ms. Kunkle's desk and motioned at Mr. Santos to look at something.

Miley turned sideways in her desk as the rest of the class erupted in whispered conversations while the two teachers talked.

"Thank god for this Santos guy," Oliver said. "I mean, I know we've never had him before, but _anyone_ would be better than Weebie."

"I know, and we would've had to have him twice, too," Miley said, shuddering. They had Kunkle again after lunch for Anatomy. "Plus, this guy is totally hot, right, Lilly?"

"What?" Lilly said, looking up from where she was doodling in her notebook. Some kind of plant, it looked like, but Miley couldn't really tell what. "Oh, um, yeah, sure. He's hot, I guess."

"You _guess?_" Miley said, but then Mr. Weebie cleared his throat and she let it drop.

"I'll be leaving you with Mr. Santos now," Mr. Weebie said. "Remember – _Perfect. Behavior._"

Mr. Santos still had that blank, dreamy smile fixed to his face after Mr. Weebie left. "So, uh, according to these lesson plans," he said, running his finger down the planner page, "you guys are supposed to have a test today."

Miley and everyone else in class held their breath. Maybe Kunkle still had the test with her and they'd get out of it. Mr. Santos frowned and opened the top desk drawer, pulling out a thick stack of papers. "Yeah, here it is," he said, and shoulders slumped all over the room. He frowned more as he looked at the top page, his lips moving slightly as though he was reading the questions under his breath.

He looked up, saw everyone watching him, and blinked. "Well, this doesn't really seem to be in the spirit of the season."

They all blinked back at him, not knowing how to respond to that.

There was a knock on the door frame, followed by one of the guys in the AV club wheeling in a 52-inch TV with a DVD player on the cart under it. "Someone order this?"

"Right on," Mr. Santos said, smiling again, and Miley, Lilly, Oliver, and everyone else looked around at each other, wondering if they dared to get their hopes up. The AV guy had Mr. Santos sign for the TV and then scurried out. Santos immediately picked up the remote and flicked the TV on. "So, anyway, like I was saying, a test doesn't really seem to be in the spirit of the season. I was thinking that our time could be better spent watching..." He pressed another button on the remote and the words _It's A Wonderful Life_ filled the screen. "...the best Christmas movie of all time!"

The whole class started to cheer. "Oh my god, this is so awesome," Miley squealed, turning around in her seat yet again. If she was honest, she usually spent more time in this class facing Lilly than Ms. Kunkle.

"I'll get the lights Mr. S!" Oliver yelled, jumping up and racing to slap the lights off. He shut the door for good measure before running back to his seat. Surprisingly, he managed to do it without tripping over anything or falling down. "This is totally great, I love this movie," he hissed at Miley and Lilly.

"I know, me too," Miley said. "What about you, Lilly? Lilly?"

Lilly was staring at the TV screen with a perplexed look on her face. "Don't you have to reserve those things like a week in advance?" she asked.

Oliver and Miley looked at each other and shrugged. "How the heck would I know?" Miley said.

"It's just, if he just got here this morning, then how did he get the TV?" Lilly said. "And since when did we have TVs that big?"

"Who _cares?_" Oliver said. "Didn't you hear him? We don't have to take the test! And we get to watch a great movie, I mean, who doesn't love _It's A Wonderful Life_?"

"I don't know," Lilly said, frowning at the TV. "I always liked _Miracle on 34__th__ Street_ better."

"Are you kidding?" said Oliver. "_It's A Wonderful Life_ is _way_ better than _Miracle on 34__th__ Street_. What about the part where George goes into the pond to save his brother?"

"Ooo, I love that part," Miley said. "Or what about the part where – "

"Hey, Miley."

Miley swiveled around to find Brandon Dean standing next to her desk. She quickly shot a look up to the front of the classroom, where Mr. Santos was sitting with his feet up on Kunkle's desk and all of his attention on the movie, none of it on the students, many of whom had gotten out of their seats and formed little groups, chatting or putting on makeup or playing flick football.

Seeing that it was safe, Miley focused every single particle of her being on Brandon. "Hey, Brandon," she answered, batting her eyelashes, thrilled beyond words that he was talking to her. She'd only had a crush on him for the last _three months_.

"So, listen," Brandon said, doing the absolute _cutest_ thing with his mouth. "Maybe you heard I'm having a Christmas party at my house tonight?"

Of course she had. The entire ninth grade had been talking about nothing else for the past two weeks. "I might have heard something about that," Miley said, trying for nonchalance.

"Yeah, my parents left on their Christmas cruise this morning and won't be there, so it should be pretty cool," Brandon said. "Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you were planning on coming."

"Count on it," Miley said immediately, giving him her best flirty smile and batting her eyelashes again.

"Awesome," Brandon said, his smile making her stomach flip. "So I'll see you there? Nine o'clock?"

"Nine o'clock," Miley confirmed. She had to fight to contain her excitement until he was out of earshot, then almost started hyperventilating. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god." Oliver had gotten engrossed in the movie and was ignoring her, so Miley turned back to Lilly. "Oh my god, Lilly, did you hear – " She broke off. Lilly was scowling down at her notebook, angrily scribbling over the drawing she'd done earlier. "Lilly? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Lilly said tightly. "I'm fine."

"Okay...," Miley said slowly. "Well...did you hear what Brandon Dean just said to me? He wanted to make sure that I'm coming to his party! He said he'd see me there!"

Lilly smiled, but for some reason it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I heard. That's great, Miley."

"I know!" Miley squealed. "It's...oh my god, what am I going to _wear?_ I have to go shopping. _We_ have to go shopping. Lilly, you have to go shopping with me after school. Please, I need your help to find the perfect outfit. I can't do it without you!"

Lilly stared at her a second, then smiled again. It looked more real this time. "Okay, okay," she said, chuckling a little. "God, you can't do anything without me, can you?"

"No," Miley said, only half-joking. She reached over and put her hands on top of Lilly's, which was still clutching her pen. "I can't. I'd shrivel up and die without you."

Lilly laughed. "And don't you forget it, Stewart."

Miley opened her mouth to tell Lilly she wouldn't when her phone went off. Uh-oh. She'd forgotten to set it to silent before class started, and she scrambled for it now, hoping she could silence it before Mr. Santos decided to confiscate it. But she shouldn't have worried, because all he did was cast a distracted look over the class and say, "Isn't someone going to answer that?" before turning back to the TV.

Miley grimaced when she saw who was calling. "Traci?" she said into the phone. "This really isn't the best time – "

"Han-_nah_," came Traci's nasal whine. "I'm _so_ glad I got in touch with you. I need to ask you a huh-_uge_ favor. Daddy's got some charity thing scheduled tonight, something for underprivileged kids. You _know_ how big they are this time of year."

"Uh-huh," Miley said. "But, Traci – "

"And we really need you to be there," Traci continued.

"Tonight? I'm sorry, Traci, but I – "

"_Fab_ulous," Traci said, clearly not listening to Miley at all. "Daddy already told them you'd do it. It'll just be a short performance, tonight at eight, Daddy's secretary is faxing the details to your father."

"Yeah, but, Traci, I really can't – "

"Oh, and one more thing, Daddy promised you'd sign pictures to hand out to all the kids, but don't worry, there's only going be about two hundred of them."

"But – "

"Thanks, Hannah! You know you're the best!" Traci hung up and Miley was left staring at her phone in shock. She slowly turned and put her head down on Lilly's desk, banging it up and down a little.

"What happened?" Lilly asked.

Miley turned her head sideways and peered at Lilly through the hair covering her face. "Traci just volunteered Hannah to do a charity concert for underprivileged kids. Tonight."

"Aww," Lilly said, not sounding sympathetic at all. "Is your secret life as an international popstar interfering with your plans with a hot boy?" She patted Miley's head a few times.

"Lilly!" Miley whined, sitting up and brushing Lilly's hand away. Didn't Lilly see how serious this was? Apparently not, because she seemed unmoved. Miley went for the puppy dog eyes. Her dad might be able to resist them, but Lilly never could.

"All right, calm down, we'll think of something," Lilly relented. "What time is the concert?"

"Eight."

"Okay, and the party doesn't start until nine," Lilly pointed out. "So you sing a couple songs, wave to the kids, and you'll be fashionably late to Brandon's."

"Right," Miley said, feeling better...until she remembered the autographed pictures. "Except Traci also said I need to bring two hundred autographed pictures to hand out. That'll take forever, Lilly, there's no way I can go shopping tonight, so I won't have an outfit, and Brandon will be sorry he ever invited me, and, and – "

"Miley." Lilly shook her head, looked hard at Miley for a long minute, and then sighed. "Do you think you can get the pictures by the end of school today?"

"Sure, I guess," Miley said. "Daddy must have a box of headshots somewhere around the house. I could go home at lunch and get them."

"Good," Lilly said. "So you go shopping after school and leave the pictures to me."

"But what are you going to – "

"Just trust me," said Lilly. "And I'll still help you with your outfit. You can take pictures with your phone and send them to me."

"Oh my god, Lilly, thank you so much," Miley said, half-rising from her chair so she could lean far enough over the desk to give Lilly a quick hug. "You are so awesome."

"I know," Lilly said, smiling smugly.

"No, seriously," Miley told her. "You're the best friend a girl could ever have."

The smile slipped off of Lilly's face only to come back a second later, looking strangely forced. "Yep," she said, and her voice sounded weird too. "That's me. The best friend."

"Lilly, what – " The bell shrilled and Mr. Santos paused the movie just at the part where Harry wins the Congressional Medal of Honor.

"Merry Christmas, everyone," he called over the noise of the class gathering up their stuff. "Don't forget your holiday spirit!"

Miley grabbed her bag, still intending to ask Lilly what was going on with her, but when she looked up Lilly was gone, and a second later Brandon Dean winked at her and Oliver stepped on her foot on his way out the door, and she forgot about everything else.

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After second period, Christmas carols played over the school intercom during class change. By the end of third period, red and green garland and strands of winking colored lights were snaked down all the hallways above the lockers.

"Why'd they wait until now to put all this stuff up?" Lilly asked Oliver as they hurried to Geometry. _Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer_ was blasting over the intercom.

"What stuff?" Oliver said, and shrugged when she gestured to the decorations.

"It's just, isn't it a little weird to wait until the day before Christmas break to put up Christmas decorations?" Lilly said. Oliver cupped a hand around his ear and Lilly made a never-mind face, deciding it was too much trouble to yell her observation over the sad news that Rudolph wasn't allowed to join in any reindeer games.

When they got to lunch after fourth period, they found out that every single appliance in the school kitchen had stopped working, so they'd sent out for pizza instead.

"We think it's some kind of electrical problem," one of the normally surly cafeteria workers cheerfully told Lilly, handing her a paper plate with two slices of sausage and green pepper pizza on it. That was Lilly's favorite kind. "All I know for sure is, it means less clean-up and we all get to go home early."

At their table, Oliver shoved half a slice of pepperoni into his mouth at once. Pepperoni, Lilly remembered, was Oliver's favorite. "Is this turning out to be the best day, or what?" he said.

Miley wasn't there because she'd gone home to get the headshots. "Or what," Lilly said, but she didn't think Oliver heard her over _Jingle Bells_.

Walking to Anatomy after lunch, Lilly noticed that all of the classroom doors had now been decorated, and so had most of the lockers, but even that didn't compare to the inside of Ms. Kunkle's classroom. There was a Christmas tree, a _real_ Christmas tree, with lights and garland and tinsel and ornaments and a star on top and everything, so big it took up an entire corner in the front of the classroom and some of the desks had been pushed back to make room. There was fake snow on the windows and decorations on the walls, cut-outs of reindeer and Santa, snowmen and snowflakes and elves.

And there was Mr. Santos, standing at the door with that smile still on his face, handing out popcorn and candy canes to everyone who came through the door and nodding his head in time to _Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree_.

"There are cookies, too," he said, waving a hand at Ms. Kunkle's desk, which Lilly could see was now loaded down with food. "Shortbread and sugar. And hot chocolate, roasted chestnuts, and a gingerbread house."

"Mr. Santos," Oliver said reverently, clutching his bag of popcorn to his chest. "I just want to let you know that you are my favorite teacher of all time."

"But where did all this come from?" Lilly asked.

Mr. Santos smiled wider and leaned down close to Lilly. "Would you like an extra candy cane?" he said, and gave her one even though she shook her head no. "You'd better get to your seat, now. The movie's just about to start."

The TV screen at the front of the class was once again covered in script proclaiming _It's A Wonderful Life_. Lilly groaned. "Couldn't we at least watch something else?" she complained to Oliver. "We just saw the beginning of this in first period."

"So?" Oliver said, scooping up a handful of popcorn. "I could watch this movie a million times and never get tired of it." Not me, Lilly thought, but she didn't bother saying it since he was already lost in watching the screen.

Miley came in five minutes late and slid into the seat behind Lilly, plunking down a cardboard box on her desk. "Oh, good," she said when she saw the popcorn. "I didn't get to eat."

"There's more up on Kunkle's desk," Oliver said, tearing his eyes away from the TV for the three seconds it took to impart that information.

Lilly hefted up the box and moved it to her own desk while Miley was getting food. She opened the flaps and a glossy, perfect Hannah smiled up at her. It looked like the stack was at least three inches high. Lilly sighed and got out her notebook, flipping to a clean page. "Sign this for me," she said, thrusting it at Miley once she came back. Miley raised an eyebrow. "Just do it," Lilly said, and Miley did. Lilly took it, put the box on the floor, bent over the notebook, and started tracing.

She stopped after she'd traced it twenty or thirty times. The TV screen was showing the part where George and Mary save the Building and Loan with their honeymoon money. She flexed her fingers, looked down at the notebook. The lines making up Hannah Montana were grooves now, a few more tracings and she'd wear through the paper. "Miley?" she said, turning around.

Miley pulled her attention away from the movie. "Yeah?"

"Do you think you could still come over tonight? After the party?"

Miley's face filled with dismay. "Lilly, oh my god, I totally forgot you asked me to come over. Do you want...I could skip the party," she said, but it was really a question, and the hope in her eyes made it impossible for Lilly to ask her to do that.

"No, that's okay," she said, and was rewarded with Miley brightening so much it was like Lilly had lit a fuse. "Just come over after, and maybe tomorrow we could hang out or something."

"Definitely," Miley said. "And didn't you say you had something to tell me? Is it important?"

Lilly studied her a minute. "You really like Brandon, huh?"

"I really do," Miley said eagerly. "_So_ much. He is so cute. And funny, and – "

"No, it's not important," Lilly said. When she turned around Mr. Santos was looking at her, smiling that stupid, dopey smile.

"We're still in business," said George Bailey. "We've still got two bucks left!"

Lilly grimaced and bent back over her notebook, started tracing again. It definitely wasn't important. Not even worth mentioning at all, really.

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The decorations were still up and the tree and TV were still there, but the room was quiet and empty and Ms. Kunkle's desk was bare. Lilly lugged the box of photos through the rows of desks and let it thunk down on top of Ms. Kunkle's. She'd decided it would be better to do this here. If she went home her little brother would be there, no doubt hopped up on sugar from all the Christmas parties he must've had at school, and he'd probably end up shredding the pictures, or throwing them everywhere, and she really didn't need that today. They never locked the school until seven, and she'd be done by then. She'd better be, anyway, since Lola was supposed to be going with Hannah to the charity concert.

Lilly got the stack of pictures out and set it to the left of the chair, then dug around in her bookbag for the pen Miley had given her, the kind that wrote gold. She sat down, rolled the chair up to the desk, uncapped the pen, and pulled the first picture off the stack.

She was halfway through when a noise at the door made her look up. Mr. Santos came strolling in. He smiled when he saw her and took a mini-candy cane from his jacket pocket. "You look like you could use this," he said.

"No, thanks," Lilly said quickly. "Uh...I guess you're wondering what I'm doing."

His eyes flicked from the stack of unsigned pictures to the one she was currently signing to the stack of signed pictures and up to her face. "Nope," he said, and walked around the desk to open the top drawer. "I just forgot my car keys." He pulled them from the drawer and they jangled as he shook them. Lilly caught a flash of the papers in the drawer, the tests they were supposed to have taken first period. It looked like the top one had been filled out. It had Oliver's name on it and she thought it was in his handwriting, but Mr. Santos shut the drawer too fast for her to be sure.

"Hey," he said as he ambled back to the door. "_It's A Wonderful Life_ is still in the DVD player if you want to watch."

"Thanks," Lilly said, thinking if she never saw that movie again in her life it would be too soon.

"And Happy Holidays!" Mr. Santos yelled from out in the hall. Lilly pulled on the desk drawer but it was jammed somehow and she couldn't get it to open. She thought she'd seen a grade on the test too, a ninety-three, but she was probably just imagining things. She massaged her hand and checked her watch. It was a little before five. If she hurried, she could be done in an hour and still have time for dinner before she had to get ready for the concert. She picked up the pen, went back to signing.

A minute later, _Jinglebell Rock_ started playing over the intercom.

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"Thanks for the ride, Jackson," Miley said, jumping out of the front seat while Lilly did the same in the back. "Don't forget, be here to pick us up by eight forty-five."

"Don't forget, you still owe me another twenty for doing this," Jackson answered. Miley made a face and slammed the door shut, and Jackson peeled out of the parking lot like there was something after him.

"Okay, we've got just over an hour," Miley said. "We get in, we get out. Easy."

Lilly nodded, her purple wig bright in the streetlights. Miley had suggested her red one, and red and white clothes, a candy cane theme, but for some reason Lilly hadn't gone for it. She was dressed in yellow and black and more purple, like she didn't want anything to do with Christmas. Which was weird, because Lilly loved Christmas. "I've got the pictures and you've got the clothes, right?"

Miley held up the duffel bag that had her change of clothes for the party. Jackson was going to drop her off there and then take Lilly home, because despite Miley's best efforts to convince her otherwise, Lilly didn't want to go to the party. "Yep. Let's go."

They made their way into the community center and followed the hum of noise and strains of _Frosty the Snowman _to a set of double door that were marked 'Gymnasium'. Lilly cracked one of the doors open and peeked in. "The kids are in there already," she said.

"If we walk in, it'll be pandemonium. Maybe we should look around back for – "

"Ms. Montana! I am so sorry someone wasn't outside to meet you! We were told you weren't arriving until right at eight."

They both turned, taking in a woman a couple inches taller than Miley with badly dyed blonde hair, wearing an oversized knit sweater that had kittens dancing in snowflakes on it.

"We were so thrilled when Mr. van Horne said you'd volunteered to come tonight, it's really going to make the kids' Christmas."

"I'm happy to do it," Miley said, and okay, happy might be a bit of a stretch, but it was kids and it was Christmas, so it wasn't exactly like she could resent having to do it either.

"Still, we really do appreciate it," the woman continued, pumping Miley's hand up and down. "I'm Jill Hodges and I'm orchestrating this whole thing. If you'll just come with me, I can sneak you back to where the stage has been set up."

"Of course," Miley said, and then as Jill led them down the hallway, "This is my friend, Lola. She came along to help me out tonight."

"How nice," Jill said vaguely, barely sparing Lilly a glance. Miley looked back and saw Lilly roll her eyes and stick out her tongue, and she covered her mouth to keep from laughing. "Everything's going smoothly so far, and now that you're here I'm sure A Night With Hannah is going to be a smashing success."

"I'm sure it – Uh, did you just say 'A Night With Hannah'?" Miley asked, trying not to panic. Just what exactly had Hannah "volunteered" for?

"Yes, A Night With Hannah," Jill confirmed. "You'll sing a few songs, and then we'll watch a Christmas movie and have refreshments, and finally you and our Santa will hand out the presents and autographed pictures. You did bring the pictures, didn't you?"

"They're right here," Lilly said, because Miley was too busy freaking out to answer. A movie and refreshments? Handing out presents? That would take forever. She was supposed to be fashionably late to the party, not show up after it was over.

"Uh, Ms. Hodges?" Miley said, "I'm not sure that..." She couldn't quite bring herself to say that she was going to crush the dreams of two hundred underprivileged children four day before Christmas, no matter how cute Brandon Dean was.

"Yes, Ms. Montana?" Jill said curiously.

"Um..." All Miley could think was that she couldn't wait until she saw Traci so she could strangle the other girl.

"Hannah just wanted to let you know that I won't be able to stay for the whole night," Lilly jumped in. Both Miley and Ms. Hodges looked at her in confusion. Miley opened her mouth and Lilly kicked her ankle, then stepped forward and thrust the box of pictures at Jill. "Do you mind taking these ahead? We'll be right behind you, I just need to talk to Hannah a minute."

Jill took the box reflexively and looked at Miley, still confused, and Miley made herself smile like she had some clue of what was going on. "Certainly," Jill said finally. "It'll be the third door down on your left. I'll just go see if I can find our Santa for tonight so you can be introduced."

Lilly dragged Miley off to one side of the hall as Ms. Hodges walked away. "Lilly, what – "

"Listen, you can't disappoint those kids," Lilly said.

"I know," Miley said morosely. "I wasn't going to."

"Good," Lilly said. "So here's what we'll do. You do the concert, and then we'll make up a reason to disappear for a few minutes and go to the bathroom and change. You'll put on your outfit and go to the party, and I'll play Hannah the rest of the night."

"You...you really think that'll work?" Miley asked, trying to keep a lid on the hope and excitement that raced through her at the idea that she might still get to go to the party.

"I fooled the President's daughter one-on-one for six hours." Miley grimaced at the reminder that she'd forgotten Lilly and left her to the mercies of America's Sweetheart. "This'll be up on a stage for a couple hours tops, and the lights will be off for most of the time. It'll be fine."

"Lilly, you're a genius!" Miley said, springing forward and hugging her, and she must have been even more excited about this party than she thought, because a little thrill went up her spine when Lilly squeezed her back.

"I try," Lilly said. "And this totally counts as your Christmas present, by the way."

"Totally," Miley agreed, because she was pretty sure Lilly was kidding and she'd still get a present. "Um, Lilly? You wanna let go so we can get this thing started?" Not that she normally minded Lilly's hugs, Lilly's hugs were awesome, and she hated for them to be over because it always felt like she was missing something afterwards. But they were kind of in a time crunch here.

"Oh," Lilly said, releasing her. "Right. Let's, um...let's hurry." And she took off down the hall before Miley could answer.

The third door on the left was a conference room. The long table in the middle was loaded down with cakes, cookies, and other treats that were evidently going to be the refreshments later. "Ms. Montana, there you are," Jill said, towing a man dressed in the worst Santa suit Miley had ever seen behind her as she approached. The suit was faded so much it was almost orange, and it was pathetically obvious that pillows were being used for padding because they slid down as the man walked and bulged in all the wrong places. "I was just going to come find you. This is Nick, our Santa tonight."

And the beard was awful too, hanging down so much that there was an inch gap between it and the man's smooth, clean-shaven face. It did absolutely nothing to make the man look like Santa, or like anyone other than –

"Mr. Sa – " Lilly said, and Miley jabbed her hard in the ribs with an elbow because Hannah and Lola didn't know who Mr. Santos was. "Uh, I mean, Merry Christmas, and it's nice to meet you," Lilly finished weakly.

"Ho ho ho," Mr. Santos boomed. "Merry Christmas!"

———————————————

Miley was off the plywood platform stage a few minutes after eight-thirty, and Lilly got them both into the bathroom by telling Ms. Hodges that Hannah needed a minute to cool down before the movie started. She and Mr. Santos were busy carrying all the treats out for the kids anyway, and Lilly didn't think she'd even heard.

They changed quickly in stalls in the girls bathroom across from the gym. Lilly had locked the bathroom door to make sure none of the kids wandered in during the switch. Lilly stripped off Lola's outfit and pulled on the Hannah-clothes Miley slung over the top of the stall separator. They were all gold and sequins, a lot shinier than Lilly felt right now, but at least they weren't red and green. Even in the bathroom they could hear _Winter Wonderland_ being played in the gym, and Lilly was really starting to hate Christmas carols.

Miley tossed the Hannah wig over the stall and Lilly grabbed it out of the air and exited the stall to swap it for Lola's in front of the mirror. She pinned the wig in place, and she could smell...well, sweat, mostly, because that's what you did when you wore one of these things, especially if you were running all over a stage and singing at the same time. But Lilly still thought it smelled good. She shut her eyes and pushed her knuckles against the sharp edge of the counter. This was hopeless.

"So what do you think?" Miley asked from behind her.

Lilly spun around, opened her eyes, and clamped her jaw shut to keep it from dropping to the floor. She'd seen the outfit before when Miley sent her a picture for approval, but that had been on the rack. Seeing it on Miley was a whole different matter.

"Uh...," Lilly said, swallowing repeatedly to try to get some moisture back in her mouth. "You'll be lucky if every guy at the party doesn't jump you as soon as you walk in the door."

"Perfect," Miley said, grinning. Yeah, Lilly thought. Just _perfect_. "Okay, I've gotta go meet Jackson. Thank you _so much_ for doing this, Lilly." She crossed the small room and pulled Lilly into a hug. Lilly breathed in, smelling more sweat and the perfume Miley was wearing. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Lilly said sadly.

Miley let her go and looked at her. "Lilly," she said. "What – "

"Have fun at the party," Lilly said, putting all her effort into producing a passable smile. "I'd better get out there before Ms. Hodges comes looking." She unlocked the door and walked back to the gym so fast she was almost running.

The gym was dark and the Christmas carols had stopped by the time she got through the doors at the back and up on the stage. Some of the kids sitting closest to it called out Hannah's name, and Lilly smiled and waved to them before slipping into the empty chair that had been set up next to Santa's throne. "Sorry I'm late," she whispered to Mr. Santos.

"You're just in time," he whispered back. "The movie hasn't started yet."

But then it did, the words _It's A Wonderful Life_ filling the projection screen hanging down on the wall behind the stage. Lilly groaned. She was really starting to hate this movie. She was really starting to hate Christmas.

"I love this movie," Mr. Santos whispered. "Don't you just love the part where George gives up his dream of traveling to stay in Bedford Falls and run the Building and Loan?"

I bet his life would have been a lot easier if he hadn't, Lilly thought bitterly, and slouched down, crossing her arms over her chest. Halfway through the movie she couldn't take it anymore and surreptitiously pulled her cell phone from the pocket of Hannah's glitter jeans. She sent Miley a text asking how the party was going, but she never got an answer.

———————————————

The party was in full swing by the time Miley arrived. Lights blazed in the house and Christmas carols blasted through the windows, kids spilling out of the door onto the lawn. She fought her way inside, narrowly avoiding getting a drink dumped down the front of her shirt.

The house was packed. Miley pushed through what had to be every single member of the ninth grade class, plus some of the upperclassmen. She struggled through the living room, dining room, and into the kitchen as still didn't see any sign of Brandon.

"Hey, do you know where Brandon is?" she asked a kid, grabbing his arm when he tried to step past her.

"Who?" he said. Miley didn't think he even went to their school.

"The guy who's throwing the party!"

The kid shrugged, pulled his arm free, and disappeared into the crowd. Brandon could be anywhere. He could be right here in the kitchen and she'd probably never see him. But she did spot the keg set up on the table. No wonder everything was so crazy.

By the time she got out of the kitchen and down the end of the hall, Miley had a new appreciation for what salmon went through swimming upstream. There was a line of kids waiting outside the bathroom. "Have you guys seen Brandon?" she asked, and all of them shook their heads, but then the bathroom door opened and he came out.

He saw her and grinned and her heart did that stupid thing where it went five times faster than normal. He was just _so cute_. "Hey, Miley. I'm glad you finally made it."

"Hey, Brandon."

"You want something to drink?"

Did he mean the beer? Because she didn't want that. "No, thanks. I'm good."

"What?"

She raised her voice. "I'm good!"

"It's so loud down here!" He leaned in close and spoke directly into her ear and her head started swirling. "You want to go upstairs? It's less crowded. We could talk." She definitely wanted that.

He led her up the stairs and down the hall into a room that was obviously his. There was a poster of Ryan Schekler on one wall. Lilly had the same one in her room. "Cool room," she said.

"Thanks." He sat down on the bed and patted the spot beside him, and after a second she dropped her purse on the bed and sat next to him. She couldn't believe Brandon Dean had specifically asked her to his party and now she was talking to him in his room. This was turning into the best Christmas ever. "So how do you like the party?"

"It's great!" She'd spent most of her time at it shoving people out of the way trying to find him. "A lot of people."

"Yeah. But I'm glad we can spend some time alone."

Cute _and_ romantic. "Me too."

He leaned in again and she knew what he was going to do and her nerves were dancing and she leaned in too and he kissed her, just the right amount of pressure and – was that his tongue?

It was. And he was pushing her. She didn't get it at first; why would he be pushing her away when he was trying to kiss her? But then she figured out that he wasn't pushing her _away_, he was pushing her _down_. Onto the bed.

She pushed him instead and got his tongue out of her mouth. "What are you doing?"

"Guess," he said, smiling again, except his smile looked kind of sleazy now and had it always been like that? He attached his mouth back to hers and put a hand on the back of her head and pressed her down with his weight.

She squirmed out from under him. "Brandon. Stop." He reached for her and she got off the bed and backed away. "We hardly know each other."

"Come on, Miley. Why do you think I invited you to the party?"

Unbelievable. "You said you wanted to talk!"

"We can talk," he said. "After."

Uncle Earl would be a supermodel before that happened. "You're disgusting," she told him. "I can't believe I ever wasted time thinking you were cute."

"Don't be such a baby," he told her.

"Don't be such a revolting pig," she snapped, stomping to the door. "And don't ever try to _talk_ to me again."

She went down the stairs two at time, fuming. What a jerk. She never should have come to this party. She should have stayed at the thing and then gone home with Lilly and –

Lilly. Lilly had spent all day helping her, signing those pictures, helping Miley pick a dress, taking her place as Hannah, and for what? So Miley could dump her to go get hit on by some scumbag. And now she was going to be late getting to Lilly's house too. She would have to call Jackson and wait for him –

Her phone was still upstairs in her purse. In Brandon's room.

She'd gotten all the way to the front door and had to turn around and thrash through the sea of high schoolers to get back to the stairs. She pounded up them and raised her fist to do the same thing on Brandon's door, and stopped in mid-swing when she heard someone giggling.

It had been less than five minutes and he already had another girl in there. Un-freaking-believable. She almost threw up a little thinking about the fact that she'd ever been excited that he might want to kiss her.

There was no way she was going back in that room now. Forget it. She would walk to Lilly's. It wasn't that far.

———————————————

It was over. The movie ended – finally – and then there had been about an hour of handing out those stupid headshots while Mr. Santos gave each child a present to go with it. The only thing that had been kind of good was the looks on all the kids faces when they came up to get them. They were all filled with such _awe_, it made Lilly a little guilty to be cheating them, that they weren't really meeting Hannah, but mostly it had made her feel like those hours after school and her cramped hand were worth it.

It was late now, almost eleven, and the kids were on their way back to group homes or foster homes or wherever they'd come from. Lilly thought they'd all had a good time. People had materialized to help clean up and Lilly kept getting in the way. She didn't know if she should try to find Ms. Hodges or Mr. Santos or anyone or if she could just leave.

She poked her head in a couple doors and almost got run over by two men carrying a table and when she found the conference room Ms. Hodges had shown them earlier she collapsed in a chair. She just wanted a minute to sit and be alone before she went home. Miley still hadn't answered her text. That probably meant the party and Brandon Dean were so awesome she wasn't even checking her phone and Lilly would have to listen to her talk about it all night. Why did she do this to herself? She should have just told Miley to come over a different night.

He was probably kissing her right now.

"Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!" Mr. Santos strolled through the doorway. His costume had looked better when they were up on the stage, so much so that Lilly had wondered if he'd changed, but now it was even worse than before, the beard hanging down so low you could have fit two more chins under it.

"Yeah," Lilly agreed. "For the kids, anyway."

"Well, the children mustn't be disappointed," Mr. Santos said. "They loved the performance, and the presents. And _It's a Wonderful Life_, of course. Don't you love that movie? I love that movie."

"It's okay," Lilly said, just to be polite.

"Okay? It's the best Christmas movie ever!"

"I guess." Everyone else certainly seemed to think so. "But I always kind of liked _Miracle on 34__th__ Street_ better."

Mr. Santos gasped. "Better than _It's a Wonderful Life_? But what about the part where George realizes how much good he's done in his life and rushes home and everyone in town has donated money to help him?"

"Yeah, that's a good part." Lilly hadn't really ever understood how that was supposed to make an arrest warrant disappear, but she didn't feel up to arguing about it right now. "Do you know where Ms. Hodges is? I kind of need to get out of here."

"I think I saw her in the gym. I've got to be on my way, too. It's a busy season for me." He hefted his Santa sack higher on his shoulder. It wasn't that big, but somehow he'd pulled two hundred gifts out of it. He probably did magic tricks for birthday parties when he wasn't playing Santa. "But what's this?"

He reached down into the sack and pulled out a small package, wrapped all in gold with a gold ribbon curled on top of it. "Looks like there's one left. It must be for you."

"Keep it." She really wasn't in the mood for presents.

He ignored her, just like he had with the candy cane, and stuck the present in her face until she took it. "This'll get you in the Christmas spirit!"

"Thanks." She was pretty sure the Christmas spirit wasn't coming anywhere near her this year.

Mr. Santos paused in the doorway. "You know," he said. "There was one thing I always liked about _Miracle on 34__th__ Street_."

Lilly looked up. "What?"

"How it all works out," he said. "That's my favorite part of _Miracle_. The way everything works out in the end and you're never sure whether or not Kris Kringle had it all planned out like that, right from the very beginning. You just have to have faith." He waved at her and started down the hall. "Merry Christmas, Lilly!" he yelled over his shoulder.

Lilly stared around the empty room, realizing that since she hadn't left with Miley, she didn't have a ride. Great. "Merry Christmas," she muttered.

———————————————

The whole time she was walking, Miley couldn't stop thinking about Lilly. She was going to have to apologize to her like a thousand times. And get her some _really_ good Christmas presents. A ton of them. And swear that she would never again blow off one of their nights to go do something because of a stupid boy. Maybe she would just swear off boys all together.

She kept thinking about how weird Lilly had been acting all day, and how she'd said that she wanted to tell Miley something. She'd been nervous about it, like it was something big, but then later she'd said it wasn't important.

Miley was going to make sure Lilly told her tonight. Even if it wasn't important, she wanted to know. After everything Lilly had done for her, Miley would at least make sure Lilly knew that Miley was there to listen to her.

Miley started walking faster. A couple more houses and she'd be there. Lilly might be home already. She wouldn't have gone to bed, would she? No, she'd be waiting up to let Miley in. She –

She was coming down the street towards Miley. She'd taken off the Hannah wig but was still wearing the clothes, walking with her shoulders slumped and her head down. "Lilly?"

"Miley? What are you doing here?" They met in front of Lilly's house. The bulb in the streetlight across the street was almost burnt out, and they stood just on the edge of its pool of dull orange light. "Shouldn't you be at the party?"

"The party sucked. And Brandon is a jerk."

"Oh," Lilly said, and Miley thought she looked a little...relieved? "I'm sorry. I know you really liked him."

"No, I'm sorry," Miley said. "I shouldn't have left you to and gone to the party. And I shouldn't have made you do all that stuff for me."

"Yeah, well, you know," Lilly shrugged. "That's what best friends do."

Miley didn't like the way Lilly's mouth twisted when she said best friends. She'd done the same thing earlier, like it hurt her to say the words, and Miley didn't want to think about what it would mean if being best friends with her hurt Lilly. "What's that?"

"Huh?" Miley pointed to the small package in her hand and Lilly was so confused when she looked down at it that Miley thought she must have forgotten she was carrying it. "Oh, that. You can have it."

"You got me a present?" Lilly held it out and Miley took it from her.

"Yeah. It's Christmas, right?"

"What is it?"

"Open it."

Miley took her time, slipping off the ribbon and sliding her fingers under the tape, undoing the wrapping paper carefully and without tearing it. A gold box was under the paper, as long as her hand and half as wide, three fingers deep. Miley eased the lid off.

There was a plant inside, a small sprig of something. Miley lifted it out and held it up in the dim light, examining it, trying to figure out what it was. Then she knew.

Mistletoe.

"Lilly," Miley said.

Lilly's face went red, brighter than a Christmas light. "Miley, I didn't – oh, god. I didn't know what it was, Mr. Santos gave it to me and I swear I didn't..."

She kept babbling but Miley was hardly listening. Maybe Lilly hadn't known, but if it hadn't meant anything, Lilly would have laughed. She would have said, _Save it for the next boy you get a crush on_.

"Lilly." Lilly stopped talking and stared at Miley, her mouth hanging open and her cheeks still red, and Miley knew what Lilly had wanted to tell her, and she'd always known that they were more than friends but she hadn't know they could be _this_.

She let the box and wrapping paper fall from her hand but kept hold of the mistletoe. She put her other hand on the edge of Lilly's jaw and kissed her, Lilly's mouth opening under hers in a split-second of surprise before she was kissing back, and Miley didn't want to stop, ever, but after a moment she drew back and tried to breathe, her hand still clutching the mistletoe, crushing it.

Lilly's eyes were dazed. "He called me Lilly."

"What?"

Lilly blinked and focused. "Nothing. You aren't just kissing me because of the mistletoe, are you?"

"Not like that," Miley said, smirking, and kissed her again. Lilly's tongue swept Miley's bottom lip but didn't try to force itself into her mouth and Miley's heart was going ten times faster than it had with Brandon.

"Merry Christmas," she whispered when they'd stopped kissing but were still so close that Lilly was the only thing she could see of the world.

Lilly smiled and closed her hand around Miley's, the mistletoe and their fingers winding together. "It's getting there."

"We should go inside," Miley said. "It's late."

"I'm too wound up to sleep." Miley raised an eyebrow and Lilly laughed. "We could watch a movie."

"I bet _It's a Wonderful Life_ is on," Miley suggested.

Lilly kissed her, leaned against her. Her weight was nothing but warm and welcome, and Miley only wanted more.

"No," Lilly said some time later. "Let's watch _Miracle on 34__th__ Street_. I really think you're gonna love the way it ends."

———————————————


End file.
